Tana Mongeau hopes to fill the gap left by 'Frenemies' with her new podcast 'Cancelled' - and she's kicking it off with Trisha Paytas' help

Kat Tenbarge

July 26, 2021 at 2:11 PM·4 min read

Tana Mongeau had Trisha Paytas on as her first podcast guest and the pair talked about Gabbie Hanna and David Dobrik. Tana Mongeau for Insider

Influencer Tana Mongeau is known for her YouTube "Storytimes" and wild social life in LA.
She's pivoting to podcasts with "Cancelled," her new show that features guest Trisha Paytas.
Mongeau told Insider she loved "Frenemies" and bonded with Paytas over being "cancelled."
Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Tana Mongeau is pivoting from her Youtube "Storytime" bread and butter to the podcast industry. The YouTuber with 5.5 million subscribers hasn't uploaded to the platform in five months, but fans will soon get just over an hour of new content weekly with the tongue-in-cheek "Cancelled" podcast, which released its first episode after midnight on Monday.

"Cancelled" refers to Mongeau's controversial status in the social media world, where she's apologized dozens of times for everything from pandemic partying to alleged racist microaggressions toward former collaborators.

"When a lot of people think Tana, they think cancelled," Mongeau told Insider. "I've had people call me out for whatever it is, whether it's something minuscule like my f---ing tracks showing in my hair extensions or real s--- that I need to grow on."

With upcoming guests like Trisha Paytas and Nessa Barrett, influencers who have also been entangled in drama, Mongeau is hoping to fill a void left by "Frenemies," Paytas' former podcast.

"Frenemies" had its moment as a viral product of quarantine, pushing influencer scandals and becoming an authority in the creator drama sphere. Both Paytas and co-host Ethan Klein have continued to post spin-off episodes since the series' sudden end last month - Paytas' is called "Enemies" and Klein's is called "Families," co-hosted by his mother.

But neither podcast has retained the cultural impact or audience of "Frenemies," thanks to the irresistible dynamic that Paytas and Klein brought onto the show together. "Frenemies" was the most-viewed H3 Podcast segment and drove the controversy around David Dobrik's Vlog Squad.

The first podcast episode, out Monday, is a laid-back conversation with Mongeau's friends Hunter Moreno and Brooke Schofield, while the Paytas interview, which airs next week, is more of a no-holds-barred drama dissection set to reference their mutual distaste for YouTuber Gabbie Hanna, Mongeau told Insider.

"I kind of see a little bit of myself in Trisha and I see a little bit of Ethan [Klein] in Hunter [Moreno]," Mongeau said. "We hated each other the first day we ever met."

Tana Mongeau is "Cancelled" on her new podcast produced by David Weintraub Entertainment and the Paragon Collective. Tana Mongeau for Insider

Mongeau talked to Insider shortly before recording her interview with Paytas, who left "Frenemies" in a fiery blaze of controversy over their feud with co-host Ethan Klein.

"Tana [is] the only one who wants my #cancelled ass and I love her for it," Paytas later tweeted. "Thanks for letting me cling to another 15 mins of relevancy on ur pod."

"We were joking yesterday that we're like cockroaches, no one can kill us," Mongeau said.

Mongeau's manager David Weintraub told Insider that "Cancelled" is unscripted because he wants the show to evolve alongside what he hopes will be viral moments generated by the show.

"Every week you're going to basically get a different show from us," Weintraub told Insider. "You're going to see format, you're going to see no format, you're going to get us wild in the streets, see us going places."

When "Cancelled" isn't on the move, Weintraub said the set designers behind Logan Paul's "Impaulsive" podcast created a $100,000 set with a custom red velvet couch and 15 cameras. (Weintraub doesn't manage Paul or his brother Jake, who previously dated Mongeau).

If the series sounds ambitious for Mongeau, who famously shows up to meetings and airports late, Weintraub says he's keeping his client on schedule.

David Weintraub (L) and Mongeau have embarked on an ambitious business partnership. Tana Mongeau for Insider

"Tana is a superstar at what she does but it takes certain amounts of energy from myself as her manager and her assistants to get her to do the jobs that need to be done," he told Insider. "But we have a very organized way of doing that, so she has been very happy and eager to do work."

"Cancelled" is produced by Weintraub's talent company and the Paragon Collective and episodes are slated to run at roughly one hour.

"It feels like something I've been meant to do for so long so actually doing it is the best feeling ever," Mongeau said. "I started making YouTube videos that were like an hour long, so talking at length is something I'm not a stranger to. Being called 'Cancelled' and just being about embracing the new internet culture and talking s---."

Read the original article on Insider

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